194 



POACEAE 



1. Pleuropogon californicus (Nees) 



Benth. 



California Pleuropogon. Fig. 444. 



Lophochlacim calif ornica Nees, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1: 283. 



1838. 

 Pleuropogon californicus Benth.; Vasey, Grasses U. S. 



40. 1883. 



Annual; culms 30-60 cm. tall; blades short, 

 abruptly narrowed at apex ; racemes 15-20 cm. 

 long; s'pikelets distant, about 2.5 cm. long, erect 

 or somewhat spreading, short-pediceled ; glumes 

 obtuse, erose at apex, the iirst 4 mm., the second 

 6 mm. long; scabrous, toothed and scarious at 

 apex, the nerves prominent; the awn variable; 

 usually 6-12 mm. long, sometimes wanting ; 

 wings of palea prominent, cleft, forming a tooth 

 about the middle. 



Wet meadows and marshy ground, Transition Zone; 

 Mendocino County to the San Francisco Bay region. 

 Apr. -June. Type locality: California. 



2. Pleuropogon refractus (A. Gray) Benth. 

 Nodding Pleuropogon. Fig. 445. 



Loplwchlaena refracta A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 8: 409. 



1872. 

 Pleuropogon refractus Benth.; Vasey, Grasses U. S. 40. 



1883. 



Perennial; culms 1-1.5 meters tall; spikelets 

 about as in P. californicus, spreading, or often 

 reflexed ; lemmas 8 mm. long, only minutely sca- 

 brous, the nerves less prominent ; awn variable, as 

 much as 12 mm. long or nearly wanting ; palea 

 narrow, keeled to about the middle, scarcely 

 toothed. 



Bogs, wet meadows, and mountain streams. Transition 

 Zone; west of the Cascades, Washington to Mendocino 

 County, California. May-Aug. Type locality: Oregon. 



59. DISTICHLIS Raf. Journ. de Phys. 89 : 104. 1819. 



Spikelets dioecious, several- to many-flowered, the rachilla of the pistillate spikelets dis- 

 articulating above the glumes and between the florets ; glumes unequal, broad, acute, keeled, 

 mostly 3-nerved, the lateral nerves sometimes faint, or obscured by striations and inter- 

 mediate nerves; lemmas closely imbricate, firm, the pistillate coriaceous, the margins 

 bowed out near base, acute or acutish, 3-nerved, with several intermediate nerves or stria- 

 tions ; palea as long as the lemma or shorter, the pistillate coriaceous, inclosing the grain. 



Low perennials with extensively creeping scaly 

 rhizomes, erect rather rigid culms, and short dense 

 rather few-flowered panicles. [Greek, two-ranked.] 



Species about 6 in salt marshes of the coast and interior 

 in America. Type species, Uniola spicata L. 



1. Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene. 

 Salt Grass. Fig. 446. 



Uniola spicata L. Sp. PI. 71. 1753. 



Distichlis maritima Raf. Journ. de Phys. 89: 104. 1819. 

 Uniola stricta Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 1: 155. 1824. 

 Distichlis spicata Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. 2: 415. 1887. 

 Distichlis dcntata Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 36: 536. 1909. 



Plants forming extensive patches of tough sod, 

 pale or glaucous ; culms 10-60 cm. tall • sheaths 

 overlapping; ligule short; blades often conspicu- 

 ously distichous, rigidly ascending, long-pilose at 

 the very base ; panicle narrow, 2-7 cm. long ; spike- 

 lets 8-16 mm. long, the florets closely imbricate ; 

 pistillate spikelets more turgid than the staminate. 



Salt marshes and alkaline soil, at low altitudes, Nova 

 Scotia to British Columbia, south to Mexico. Apr. -July. 

 Type locality: north Atlantic Coast of America. 



